Banana Slugs

I love banana slugs. I had never seen a banana slug until I came to California and the first time I saw one, I thought someone had discarded a pepper. Now I'm obsessed. They are bright yellow. You can see here that they move around on a single muscular foot. They are the second largest slug in the world (they grow up to 9 inches).

In the second picture you can see that they have two pairs of tentacles. I was taking pictures of this guy and discovered after moving some twigs to get a better shot, that its tentacles can recede into their body. They came back out after a few minutes.

In 1986, UC Santa Cruz officially adopted the banana slug as their mascot. According to the UC Santa Cruz website, the banana slug is their mascot because banana slugs embody their view that all people should participate in sports and the focus of the game is not being the best. I like to think the banana slug is their mascot because they recognize how awesome banana slugs are. I mean, they are yellow and they move by exuding slime! What else needs to be said?

Banana slugs secrete slime when they move. The slime is supposedly difficult to remove, so don't touch them. They exude tons of slime when they're mating. Looks how shiny they are in this picture! They deposit their eggs in leaves and wood. They mate year round, so hopefully I can always post pictures of banana slugs!